All Aboard for Induction

Pooja Kanabar

This year staff members constructed a new and exciting enrolment and induction process to help create an easy way of integrating new students into Ravensbourne and giving them as much knowledge possible to make the transition smooth.

I'm here to talk about all the new and exciting things that went on at Ravensbourne. First of all, we had the 'Emotional Baggage' stall where students were given a form to fill in. They spoke of any worries about starting Ravensbourne as a new student. They were then given a chance to discuss their goals and hopes for the future. It was a great icebreaker for the students and it also gave members of staff a chance to hear out any anxieties the students were facing and then create a resolution. Many of the new students were relieved to hear that they weren't the only ones that had worries. All of the students were mixed with other courses, which gave them a chance to interact and make friends from all over the university. This will help them when it comes to collaborating on work. We would like to say a big thank you to the ladies who ran the stall as they gave the students confidence in moving forward.

We also had a cupcake stall where new students could learn different techniques in cupcake decorating. We had many different creative types making fantastic decorations and showing us how artistic they can be. This was a very popular event and we had a total of roughly 200 students participate. Many of the students made friends in the process and we hope we can have this event next year for 2014.

This year it was decided that instead of lecturing students for two hours on how Ravensbourne works, we decided that the best way was to get new students to discover the building for themselves. Staff members created an 'Induction quest' which meant that the students had to go in groups of 4 around the building, using tablets with specialist software. They then had to scan bar codes that were scattered around the building and complete the tasks that were revealed such as creating videos, recording themselves speaking, using in built compasses to discover more facts. Overall this was highly successful. This helped the students absorb the knowledge rather than just giving them lectures. The winners received a meal at one of the local restaurants in the o2. Roughly 500 new students participated and there were about 40 student ambassadors who were in second and third year who helped mentor the new students.

I would like to say a very warm welcome to all the new students and I would like to wish you all the best the luck for your course and for the future.